Playboy's Bet
by ItsAylaCain
Summary: Everyone at St Vladimir's Secondary School in Montana knew that Adrian Ivashkov couldn't refuse a bet, especially not when the bet was made over a joint and some booze. They all knew they were in for a show when during the last few months of their Sophmore year, Jesse Zeklos offered him five hundred dollars if he could get Rose Hathaway to fall for him by the end of his Senior year
1. Chapter 1

**And here I am, irresponsibly starting another story when I have two damn chapters of another story started!**

 **Meh, well. Here it is!**

 **Pairing; RosexAdrian, don't like don't read.**

 **Summary; Everyone at St. Vladimir's Secondary School in Montana knew that Adrian Ivashkov couldn't refuse a bet, especially not when the bet was made over a joint and some booze. They all knew they were in for a show when, during the last few months of their Sophmore year, Jesse Zeklos offered him five hundred dollars if he could get** ** _the_** **Rose Hathaway to fall for him by the end of his Senior Year. He agreed, obviously thinking he could do it in the two-year span. Not even for the money, just for the fun of trying to get Rose, who had transferred halfway through the year. What no one had told him? Oh, just the fact that Rose had grown to hate him during her time at St. Vlad's. Oh boy, is he in for a rude awakening.**

 **AN; Adrian will 1000% be an ass at the beginning, but it'll get better, I promise**

 **Chapter One**

 _Three Months Ago_

The smell of cigars, sweat, cheap liquor and weed permeated the air of Adrian Ivashkov's house, no doubt caused by the couple hundred students dancing in the large living room. Drunk girls and guys were making out against the walls of the hallway as Adrian led his little group of friends to the basement. The six teenagers, Natasha Ozera, Adrian Ivashkov, Jesse Zeklos, Ralph Sarcozy, Avery Lazar and Nathan Zeklos, jogged down the stairs, closing the door before anyone could follow them.

Don't get them wrong, they loved a good party. But there was something a little more.. _interesting_ Jesse Zeklos had in mind.

"Alright, so why're we down here?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, lifting his bottle of beer to his lips as the six of them sat down. Jesse and Ralph shot each other a smirk, before Jesse turned to Adrian.

"I have a proposal" He wrapped an arm around Avery's shoulders, smiling devilishly. "More specifically.. A bet."

"I'm listening." Adrian let out a puff of smoke, a joint rested between his pink lips.

Everyone and their mothers knew that Adrian Ivashkov, playboy extraordinaire, couldn't resist a good bet. Especially not when A) There was some kind of drug in his body when he agreed, or B) When it was Jesse Zeklos coming up with the bet.

"I knew you'd say that," Jesse put his feet up on the coffee table "Y'know Rose Hathaway?" He raised an eyebrow

"You mean the one that transferred in February? She's in your homeroom right, Jesse?" Nathan asked, and Jesse nodded. The six of them were all finishing up their Sophomore year, even though Adrian and Nathan should've been juniors.

"Yeah, that one. She's a fucking beauty, I'll tell you that. She's got guys dropping to her feet left right and centre, but she hasn't dated anyone since she showed up." Jesse smirked "I think you know where this one's going. I'll give you five hundred bucks if you can get her to fall in love with you by the end of your Senior year."

Avery, Tasha, Ralph and Nathan all shared looks of both amusement and slight disbelief. The girl hated Adrian, and she didn't really keep quite about it. Everyone knew about her hatred for the football team's starting quarterback, except for the man in question apparently. Adrian's face grew into a smirk as he thought "Point her out to me tomorrow, and I'll decide then."

"No need, she's here" Ralph laughed "Go see her right now."

"C'mon, I know where she'll be." Jesse stood up, as did everyone else. Adrian was definitely intrigued. He hadn't heard about this Rose girl, despite her apparently having been at the school for a little over four months. And for Jesse Zeklos to compliment her on her appearance and say something other than 'fuckable'... This girl must be something. Jesse led them past the hallway of drunk kissers, through the cleared out living room and outside. Someone had gotten a bonfire going, and he could see two figures standing with their backs to them, the taller one with his arm wrapped around the shorter girl's shoulders. Sitting on a log was a blonde girl Adrian recognised as Lissa Dragomir, a distant relative of his, and beside her was Tasha's younger brother Christian. Two other people, who Adrian had barely seen chasing each other around in the small bit of light left as the sun set, soon joined the two standing, seemingly making fun of the two others. The taller one took his arm off the girl's shoulders, slugging one of them in the shoulder.

Jesse led them closer, his face falling into an easy smirk as he stepped beside the girl standing. As they got closer, Adrian saw the girl a bit better. Her long, dark hair almost went down to her ass, and she had an hourglass figure if Adrian had ever seen one. The girl wasn't short, but she wasn't that tall either, only about 5'4 or so. She didn't notice Jesse at first, not even standing right beside her.

"Hey Sugar, miss me?" Jesse's lips curled into a smile, wrapping his arm around the girl's waist, which was exposed by her halterneck crop top and jean shorts. The girl almost jumped a little, while the two other guys crossed their arms and almost snarled at Jesse.

"I don't think anyone could miss your ugly mug, Zeklos." The girl, who Adrian assumed was this Rose girl they were talking about, shrugged off Jesse's arm.

"Ouch Rose, that hurts my heart" Jesse put a hand over his heart

"And your face makes my eyes hurt, Jessica." She turned, so Adrian could see her profile now. Damn, if her curves were good, her ass and chest were a guy's heaven. Mix that with her flat stomach, tank skin and plump lips. This girl was any man's wet dream.

"Yeah yeah, Love you too Rosie." The guys behind her smirked a little, nudging each other "Oh you're dead meat, Jesse" Ralph muttered, shaking his head.

"Call me Rosie again and I will rip your dick off and shove it down your throat. Though it wouldn't really be big enough to do any damage in the first place" She sneered, crossing her arms over her chest. Jesse visibly paled a little at the threat.

"Now run along, before I decide to just beat your cowardly ass to a bloody pulp." She turned away, not even acknowledging the others as she sat down on the ground. The other boys, who Adrian now recognised as Eddie Castile and Andre Dragomir, sat down around her as they walked away. There was a third girl there, who seemed to be involved with Eddie but Adrian hadn't gotten a good look at her face. Jesse fell into step with Adrian, smirking a little

"That was Rose. You taking the bet?" Jesse asked, though he already knew the answer

"Fuck yeah."

* * *

 **(AN; This is after summer vacation, the beginning of their Junior Year.)**

"Up and at it, Rose!" Lissa shook her best friend awake, ignoring the groans of protest.

"Mm.. Five more minutes.." She muttered, yelping when she felt the cold air attacking her bare legs. Damn her for just wearing panties and not actual pants to bed last night!

"First day of school, get your lazy ass up" Lissa smiled, turning and walking out of the room. Rose considered trying to go back to sleep, but she knew the next point was Andre coming in and _literally_ dragging her out of bed.

No thank you.

Rose grumpily stood up, at least thankful she'd had a shower the night before as she trudged over to her closet. She could hear Lissa fussing over what to wear through the thin walls separating their rooms, and she laughed as she plugged her phone into her docking station. She'd grown used to drowning out Lissa's fussing over outfits over the two years she'd lived with Lissa. Andre and Lissa's parents had moved abroad when Eric had gotten a promotion, and the two of them had been living with Rose ever since. Rose's mom was rarely home, having to go abroad a lot for her own work, and she didn't know who her father was, so the three of them almost always had the house to themselves. They'd decided last year to move into Lissa and Andre's old house, with the permission of Janine, as well as Rhea and Eric. The music started up and Rose danced around her room, smiling as 'Beast' by Mia Martina blasted through the speakers. Rose didn't bother checking the weather, knowing she'd probably regret it later as she slipped on a pair of jean high waisted short shorts and a spaghetti strap. Oh well, if she had to she'd steal Andre's sweater.

Rose didn't bother with more than mascara when it came to her makeup, and her fingers worked swiftly on tying her hair back into a loose french braid, some hairs out around her face. She smiled approvingly at her reflection, looking at her door as she saw Lissa walk in with a smile and a box in her hands.

"I got you these." She handed Rose the box, and Rose huffed. She'd told Lissa so many times not to buy her stuff. She opened the box, her eyes widening. Inside were two pairs of black stilettos, one pair were strappy and the other pair were a lace-up boot that ended at the ankle, and they were about four inches, which would end up making her just over 5'9, and both were black.

"Liss.. These are great! Oh my god, thank you" Rose hugged her, grinning. Lissa laughed a little, smiling "I knew you'd like them."

"Like them? I fucking love them!" Rose sat down on her bed, putting on the boot-like pair. She stood up, looking in her full body mirror and letting out a low whistle. The heels made her tan legs look a mile long, and she loved it.

"Alright you two, stop looking in the mirror and hurry up. We've gotta go." Andre stood in the doorway, chuckling.

"Okay okay, let me grab my phone." Rose smiled, unplugging her phone from the docking station and slinging her bag over her shoulder. The three of them jogged down the stairs, Lissa ranting about how it was unfair how easily Rose could run in heels.

"Natural talent, honey" Rose drawled, a fake southern accent on as they walked towards Andre's dark red Lamborghini. Eric had bought it for Lissa and Andre to share, bur more often than not, it was Andre driving it. "Can I-"

"No!" Rose was cut off almost immediately by Andre and Lissa. She pouted, huffing as she climbed into the passengers seat and Lissa got in the back. "You know what happened last time you drove" Andre shot her a pointed look.

"Oh yeah, you almost crash into a few trees and all of a sudden you're banned from driving!" She threw her hands up in the air as Andre stared the car, driving towards the schooli

"Exactly" Lissa laughed, and Rose rolled her eyes. The three of them spent the rest of the drive to school, loudly singing to obnoxious pop songs on the radio. There were already quite a few people there when they parked, even though they were almost fifteen minutes early. But everyone normally showed up early, because getting to homeroom and getting your schedules was a shit show. They all walked towards the front door, where they could already see Mia and Eddie making out, with Christian leaning against the wall, obviously completely done with the lovey-dovey couple. Christian perked up the moment he saw Lissa though, and the two rushed towards each other. Rose and Andre gave each other a look, huffing.

"Being the only two single ones in the group is hard.." Rose sighed over dramatically, smiling as Andre nodded. The two leaned against the wall, looking around.

"Why's mister playboy looking at you?" Andre nudged Rose. She glanced over at the football team, seeing none other than Adrian Ivashkov, his gaze locked on her. She narrowed her eyes a little, watching as a grin spread over the obnoxiously attractive face.

Yes, she hated him, but no one with eyes could say that Adrian Ivashkov was unattractive. With light brown hair that looked obnoxiously soft and annoyingly, yet perfectly messy, and with his stupid, sparkling green eyes. Rose, though, knew that no matter how attractive the football player was, it couldn't save his terrible personality. The boy couldn't go one week without switching girls, and it pissed Rose off.

The two locked eyes for a moment, and to Rose's horror, the boy winked. Andre burst out laughing, whereas Rose made a disgusted face. It looked like she had just been sprayed by a skunk or something.

"What's with that face, Rosie?" Rose heard a voice in front of her, and she looked away from Adrian, her eyes widening as she saw the boy standing only ten feet away.

"Mase!" Rose grinned, running forward and throwing herself into his arms. He laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly "Hey Rosie, didn't miss me too much, right?" He murmured

Mason and Rose had been best friends since they were young, almost as long as Rose and Lissa had been. The summer before they started high school, Mason was forced to move away after his mother, who was very strict when it came to any kind of alcohol or drugs, had found out that Mason had gone to a party and gotten arrested for drinking and smoking instead of going over to Eddie's to study.

"Dumbass.. You better not get yourself caught again, or I'll kick your ass.." Rose murmured back, smiling as he set her down. She looked up, making a face as she saw a backwards snapback on his head.

"Oh my.. No, Mase, just no." She shook her head, reaching up and snatching the hat.

"What?" He laughed, trying to get the hat back. Everyone else had joined them by now, grinning as they all hugged Mason.

"Look at me! I'm Mason" Rose had the hat on backwards over her braid, trying to make her voice low to imitate Mason. Everyone laughed, and Mason attempted to grab the hat back.

"Nuh uh!" Rose held the hat on her head, turning and bolting away.

"Hey! Give me back my hat!" Mason yelled, running after her. She just barely managed to stay ahead by a few inches, only because she was wearing heels. "Rose!" Mason whined, speeding up a little. Rose turned back to say something else, ending up running right into a very sturdy chest. The boy lost his balance, falling back on the grass as Rose fell on top of him. She groaned a little, pushing herself off of the chest to look at who she ran into.

"Ugh. You." She rolled her eyes, standing up and dusting herself off.

"What's with that tone, Little Flower?" Adrian asked, smiling in amusement at Rose's attitude. She huffed, ignoring him as she turned, laughing a little at Mason, who was jogging back.

"You alright?" He asked, smiling a little as he stood in front of Rose. She nodded, watching out of the corner of her eye as Adrian stood up.

"I like the attitude, Rosie. The hat looks great on you too" Adrian smirked a little, slipping the fallen hat back on her head. Before she could punch him or anything, he turned, walking inside. Rose was fuming, letting out a huff of annoyance.

"Ah, that's the playboy dickbag you told me about?" Mason asked, looking unamused.

"Yup.." She shook her head, turning and walking back towards the group.

"Nice job, Rose" Andre laughed, clapping her on the shoulder. She smiled a little, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever, let's just go check our-" Rose started, but Christian cut her off.

"You've got homeroom with Mason, 163, I'm with Lissa and Mia, And Andre is in the same homeroom as Eddie." He said, and Mason grinned "Well, shall we?"

"My feet hurt." Rose smiled innocently. With her and Mason, this was code for 'Give me a piggyback'

Mason fake sighed "I mean, if you're gonna twist my arm.." He leaned down, letting Rose hop on his back. She was careful not to stab him with her heels, fixing the hat a little before holding on.

"Onwards!" She pointed forward, laughing as Mason took off. He easily sprinted towards their homeroom, and they were both thankful it was on the first floor. Mason just barely managed to not hit anyone, and he set her down right in front of their homeroom door "After you, Rosie" He grinned, opening the door for her. She punched him in the shoulder but laughed, walking in. They'd be staying in their homeroom for their first class, which made Rose groan a little as she heard the teacher say they had a seating plan.

"Rose, back right corner" The teacher pointed to her seat, and she sighed in relief. In front of her was an empty seat, and she sat down with a smile. Beside her, the seat was also empty, but she assumed someone would be coming in. The downside, Mason was all the way across the room.

Rose realised that was only the tip of the dung heap when, just before the bell rang, Adrian fucking Ivashkov stepped into the room. And the only empty spots were in front and beside her.

His eyes scanned the room and his face broke into a grin when he saw Rose. It turned into a smirk when the teacher told him to sit beside Rose.

 _Good.. Homeroom with her first semester, and we're right beside each other. I have this bet in the bag_ Adrian smiled sweetly, sitting down "Hey there, Little flower. Y'know, I don't recall getting an apology for earlier" He teased, obviously flirting.

Rose was, to say the least, disgusted. Oh no, she was _not_ becoming one of Adrian's conquests.

"Hm. That's too bad, isn't it Ivashkov." Rose faced forward, ignoring him. The teacher had started talking _,_ but Rose was in no way paying attention. Adrian was still talking, and after about five minutes Rose huffed, turning towards the obnoxious quarter back.

"Alright, you've been blabbering about god knows what for how long, and I seriously don't give a flying-"

"Rose! Adrian! Y'know, you two must know so much about the current subject, could you name off to me nine of Shakespeare's plays, four comedies, four tragedies and one history production?" The teacher raised an eyebrow.

She was screwed. Rose had no fucking idea-

"Comedies; Two Gentlemen of Verona, Comedy of Errors, As you like it. Tragedies; Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet. Historical; Pericles." Adrian listed off, and Rose looked at him shocked. How the fuck did he know all of that?

"Good. You're off the hook for now, but if I catch you two again..."

Adrian turned, smirking at Rose's expression "Y'know, I should get a thank you for saving your ass there. You looked like a deer stuck in headlights" He leaned towards her, while the teacher was writing on the board, giving them a project right off the bat.

"Thank you" Rose drawled, obviously sarcastic. Adrian put a hand on his chin, thinking

"Well I was thinking more like.. a sort of 'thank you' gift. Like, your number, perhaps?"

"Oh hell n-"

"Rosemarie! Adrian! That's enough! Since you two seem so friendly, I'm sure you two would be fine with pairing up for this first project. No buts" She demanded as Rose opened her mouth to protest. Mason looked at her with sympathy, shrugging a little as if to say _What can you do?_

Adrian, however, seemed very pleased with himself. When the bell rang, signalling their next class, Adrian stood at Rose's desk and stopped her from leaving

"Well, looks like you and I gotta work together here, Little Flower. How about your number? I mean, we'll need to talk outside of school so we can work on the project" Adrian smiled innocently. Rose scowled, hastily writing her number down.

"Here. Use it _only_ if it's about the project." She strode away, the clinking of her heels on the floor giving her exit some.. dramatic affect.

Adrian smirked, slipping the paper into his pocket.

"You hate me now, Little Flower. Soon you'll open your petals" He murmured, his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the room.

 **Hope you enjoyed! Review if you'd like!**

 **~Ayla**


	2. Chapter 2 (Please Read Authors Note)

**AN PLEASE READ!**

 **Hey! So I've noticed a... Less than excited attitude concerning this story. I know the main reason is because of the fact that it's a Rose x Adrian story, and that ship isn't as popular as Rose x Dimitri, but personally I like the way this is going and I think that it will be.. well worth the read, if you'd like to give it a try. To each their own, and if you'd like to read a Romitri story by me I have one currently started called 'Falling for you' (It's a WIP title). I don't think that one will be updated as often, as personally I'm a little more passionate about this idea, but I will still be updating it as regularly as possible. If you'd like to continue reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter! If there's a reason you don't like the story or the chapter itself, please leave a review so I know how to continue to make the reading experience best for you! Please don't leave reviews saying you didn't like the story because it's Rose x Adrian, because I will be keeping this ship throughout the entire story, and it will be the end result.**

 **Thank you, and enjoy! Also, thank you to 'nstowers' for favouriting and following this story, out of 45 visitors they are the only ones who apparently liked it that much. Thank you so much for your support!**

 **Chapter Two**

Rose was ready to pull her hair out (not literally of course, she couldn't do that to her hair). First on her list of 'shitty things that happened since school started', was the horrific moment she found out she had ended up with Stanford fucking Alto as her math teacher. Stan and Rose had been butting heads ever since Rose had transferred, and it was basically hate at first sight for the two of them. But of course, Stan wasn't her only problem as almost all of her teachers were already unloading assignment after assignment on them. They had a review test for math in a week, they had a big project to analyse the work of different artists and create a ten minute minimum presentation to show to the class; Hell, even her art teacher had given them homework.

Speaking of her English project, there was one more thing that was the main reason she wanted to pull her hair out right now. Yup, none other than Adrian Ivashkov. It turned out, to her absolute horror, that Adrian was in three of her four first semester classes. He was in English with first period, Art with her third period and they even had the same study hall. The only class she didn't have to deal with him in was Math, but she'd take Adrian over Stan any day.

Rose always knew it could be worse, she could be stuck in classes with Jesse or Ralph. Or both. She shuddered at the thought. But either way, she preferred Adrian over anyone else in his friend group. Adrian was still an obnoxious little shit when he wanted to be, but personality wise, he wasn't as bad as Rose had initially assumed. In all honesty, Rose was feeling a little better about being in classes and working with Adrian than she'd been originally. He'd even managed to change her overall hatred of him, downgrading it to just a mild to heavy dislike; it all depended on how obnoxious the boy was acting that day. Normally his 'obnoxious level' as Rose had nicknamed it was around a four or a five out of then on a normal day. Maybe even a minimum of three on a really good day. Sometimes though, he managed to jump all the way up to an eight or a nine.

This happened the most when he was around his friends, especially Jesse or Nathan. Rose made it a habit to avoid Adrian outside of class, for this specific reason.

The bell ringing jerked her out of her daze, and she looked up to see Andre already packed up, standing in front of her "C'mon Rose, let's head to the cafeteria" He seemed like he had something on his mind, but Rose didn't focus on that as she packed up her unused notebook. She knew if Andre had something to say, he'd say it.

The two of them walked ahead, not even waiting for Mia and Eddie. They both knew the two of them would show up ten minutes later, Mia's lipstick smeared all over Eddie's mouth.

"Rose.. I'm a little worried" Andre said, just loud enough for her to hear as they walked out of the demon king's classroom. Stupid Stan.

"Worried? What, is Christian staying over tonight? I've got extra ear muffs and ear plugs" Rose made a face, shuddering a little. She'd made the mistake of not wearing any ear protection one night when Christian was staying over.. Worst decision of her life. She was scarred.

"Alright ew, I don't need to hear about that stuff" Andre made a face as well "But no, not anything like that. It's about Ivashkov. You two seem to be getting.. close." Andre spoke carefully.

"What? Oh no, disgusting! We're working on a project for English class, and he's in three of my classes. We aren't even friends." Rose insisted

"Well.. Just be careful. I don't want you getting hurt" He ruffled her hair, smiling a little. Rose rolled her eyes, fixing her hair "I wouldn't go out with someone like him, I'm not that stupid"

"Whatever you say, Rosie" Andre laughed, getting a punch in the shoulder for that. As they walked into the cafeteria, Rose immediately walked over and plopped down beside Mason. She felt a few pairs of eyes on her, but she easily disregarded them. For the last week or so, Adrian's little friend group had been watching her as if she was some animal in a zoo. She didn't care, she was just.. confused. She'd never been of any interest to them before, aside from a few disgusting comments from Jesse or Nathan. Why now?

"So, you've managed to make her at least slightly like you." Nathan chuckled lowly, smiling a little "Nice job."

"I wouldn't call it like. Mainly I just changed intense hatred into slight dislike" Adrian was still smug about it, especially with what he was able to accomplish in only two weeks. At this rate, they should be dating by the end of the year, and hopefully he'd have fulfilled the bet requirements a few months into next year.

The six of them were sitting in the cafeteria, Nathan and Adrian conversing in hushed voices as Tasha, Avery, Jesse and Ralph gawked at Rose.

"Dude.. I think you've got some competition here" Jesse laughed, nudging Adrian. When the boy followed their gazes, he saw the red haired boy that Rose was constantly joking around and even flirting with, with his arm around her shoulders. She was curled into his chest, their shoulders shaking from laughter. Adrian's eyes narrowed a little as he watched the two.

The guy was in his English class, and anyone with eyes could tell that the ginger was madly in love with Rose. _Ha, too bad gingy. She's gonna be mine..._ He thought with a small smirk

"Who even is he..?" Ralph asked.

"Mason Ashford. He and Rose have been best friends since the third grade but he had to move away the summer after their grade eight year. The only people closer to her than Mason are Lissa and Andre, who are basically her siblings" Nathan explained, his chin in his palm. "You may have some serious competition though, A. Look at how she's leaning into him" He tutted

Adrian laughed, shaking his head "No way I'm losing to him. Snowball's chance in hell right there" He gestured to the two of them.

"Y'know I was thinking.." Mason began, speaking softly so only Rose heard "I think we should hang out again. Like old times. It's been a long time. It's really lucky we transferred to the same school." He chuckled, a light blush coating his pale cheeks. He was trying to imply that _just_ he and Rose should hang out, maybe go to a movie or something. Rose obviously thought that he mean all of them should hang out together. Which Mason would be fine with, if he wasn't trying to ask his first love out on a date. He got excited when he saw Rose's face light up.

"Yeah! That sounds good! We can all come over to my house and watch some movies tonight! It's nice to have my best friend back" Rose nudged him, grinning. Mason's face fell a little but he nodded "Yeah, it'll be fun."

"Friendzoned. Harsh" Jesse whispered to Mason as they walked back, the guys snickering as Mason's ears turned red. Rose was talking animatedly with Lissa, the two already beginning to plan out the entire evening.

When their last class ended, Rose, Lissa and Andre walked towards their car, Andre chuckling as the girls continued to blabber to each other about how nice it'd be for everyone to hang out again.

"Don't forget sleeping bags and stuff! We're in the living room" Rose yelled out the passenger window as they passed Eddie, Mason and Mia and the three of them gave thumbs up, laughing a little as Andre tugged her back into the car. Andre focused on the road, occasionally adding input as Lissa and Rose talked about the movies they should watch. Rose insisted on a bunch of horror movies

"C'mon Liss! It'll be hilarious to see Mason and Chrissie trying to act tough while simultaneously trying not to piss themselves!" Rose whined. Lissa didn't even dignify the comment with a response. Rose just rolled her eyes, knowing she'd manage to get everyone on her side about the horror movies. The second they got home, Rose and Lissa pushed all of the furniture out of the living room and into the den. It was cramped, but they managed it, leaving more than enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably. They tilted the very large TV a bit so they'd see it better from the floor, and only about half an hour later, Mason, Christian, Eddie and Mia showed up, all carrying sleeping bags and pillows. They didn't even knock, just walking in. Rose, Lissa and Andre already had their sleeping bags and pillows set up, and Rose and Andre were already throwing popcorn at each other.

"Alright, what movie's first?" Eddie asked, setting his sleeping back beside Mia's. Mason set his up beside Rose's, smiling a bit

"The nightmare before Christmas" Rose declared, pressing play.

"Seriously Rose? It's like, mid Septe-"

"It's Halloween." Rose deadpanned

"Rose, Halloween is-"

"September 1st until October 31st." She turned to the movie, resting her head on Mason's shoulder.

Everyone chuckled a little, shaking their heads in exasperation. Rose, Mason and Andre kept throwing popcorn at each other, only half paying attention to the movie.

About halfway through their second movie, 21 Jump Street, Rose heard her phone buzzing on the table.

"Toss my my phone, Liss" Rose stood up, just barely catching Lissa's distracted throw. She walked out into the hallway, answering the call without bothering to look at the number

"Hello?"

"Hey Rose, where are you?" She heard Adrian's voice at the other end, sounding a little amused.

"I'm at home.. Why?" Rose was confused. Why was he asking where she was..?

"Hm, well I mean, because I've been at the library for the last half hour waiting for you." He chuckled "We were planning to work on the project, remember?"

"We were?" Rose thought "Oh fuck! Shit, I'm sorry.." She sighed, pinching her nose "Well everyone's at my house right now, and I have no way of getting there.." The library was all the way across town, and Andre's car was getting the tires changed. Good fucking timing.

"Well I mean, why don't I just come over to your house? We can get the project finished away from everyone else and then it's out of the way. Plus, we don't have to worry about the librarian shushing us" Rose could almost here the smirk in his voice. She huffed a little, but there wasn't really another option. She couldn't reschedule for tomorrow, she had track tryouts, and it was due on Friday.

"Yeah sure, whatever." She reluctantly agreed. Sure, she didn't completely hate Adrian anymore, but that didn't mean she wanted him at her house. Especially not when Andre was already suspicious that the two of them had some kind of secret relationship going on or something.

She told him the address, and he said he'd be there in ten minutes. Rose walked back out with a huff, plopping back down. Everyone looked at her, Christian raising an eyebrow with a slight smile "What's got you down in the dumps, Rosie?" He teased.

"Adrian's coming over in ten minutes. We were supposed to work on that English project due Friday, but I forgot" She sighed dramatically, putting her head in Mason's lap as he played with her hair. Lissa and Mia shared a smirk, which went unnoticed by Rose. Christian and Eddie had burst out laughing, while Andre was looking a bit worried and sceptical.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I'm sure you guys could get it done at school.." He bit his lip, and Rose shook her head

"We haven't even started on the powerpoint. We'll need to take all of lunch tomorrow to practice, since I've got track tryouts tomorrow after school" Rose sighed "I'm not that happy about it either, but it is what it is.."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as Rose and Andre stared at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation. After a few seconds Andre sighed, and everyone turned back to continue watching the movie. Rose got up silently when the doorbell rang, this time seeing the look Mia and Lissa shot each other. She didn't give it any thought as she walked out of the living room and to the front door, opening it to reveal a grinning Adrian.

"Hey little flower" He smiled, stepping in when Rose moved out of the doorway.

"Hey. Take your shoes off, we can work downstairs in the office. The den's a little.. crowded right now" She explained, leading him towards the stairs. He looked into the living room as he walked past, waving a little "Hey, sorry to disrupt. We should be done soon" He smiled, before Rose dragged him downstairs

"Woah, forceful. You know I love a woman that takes control, Hathaway" Adrian grinned, and Rose made a face like she was about to throw up.

"Shut up and get your notes out Ivashkov, I'll type" She huffed, sitting down in front of Eric's computer and logging in. She pulled up microsoft powerpoint, quickly choosing a theme and adding a title

"The Literary Works Of Edward Allen Poe and Shakespeare" Adrian murmured quietly, more to himself than anything. "So we've got to choose a few pieces to focus on, so I was thinking about doing the classic Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth for Shakespeare. It's easy and it'll help us get done quicker. Poe'll be a bit more difficult, going through all of his-"

"I wanna do The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. I read it last year for a project, and it was really interesting" Rose began typing up two slides with the play names for Shakespeare.

"The what now?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, looking up at Rose. He actually wanted to get a good mark on this, as English and Art were his favourite subjects. Working with Rose was just a bonus.

"The Narrative or Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It was the only complete novel Poe ever wrote, and it followed Arthur Gordon Pym as he stows away on a whaling ship after him and his friend Augustus sail off and get caught up in a storm, soon being saved by the boat. They decide to stow away on it as it sets sail again, but a mutiny ends up erupting on the ship so Pym had to stay hidden to stay alive, without food or water to tide him over. He gets set free and he, Augustus and one of the mutineers, Dirk, decide on a plan to take over the ship, as Dirk regrets his part with the mutineers. They don't know Pym is on board yet, so he dresses up as one of the dead sailors and pretends to be a ghost, and they scare off or kill all of the mutineers. The only one they keep is a man named Richard Parker, so he can help run the ship. They end up in a storm and survive, but are without any food. They come across another ship, which ends up actually being just a ship afloat randomly. All it's 'crew' are actually just corpses, one tied to the wheel to make it seem like he was driving the ship" Rose was talking animatedly by now. Most novels, especially old ones, interested her, but this one was one of her favourites because of not only the way it was written, but because of how the story foretold some dark events in the future. It was incredibly interesting.

"So as they continue to almost starve to death, Richard Parker suggests they draw straws and one of them be sacrificed. Richard ends up with he shortest straw and is cannibalised, and Augustus dies days later from his wounds he got when they took over the ship. I don't wanna spoil the rest, but it's really interesting because thought the book was published in 1838, but in 1884 a boat set sail and ended up sinking in a really bad storm that the crew wasnt prepared four. The four men just barely managed to escape, ending up on a deserted island. They, like Arthur Gordon Pym and his crew, didn't have enough provisions to keep themselves alive. They managed to catch a turtle and eat it but they knew they'd need more if they wanted to be found alive. There was a seventeen year old boy named Richard Parker there and.. Well, you can probably guess the rest. He drank sea water and ended up deathly ill, so the other men just decided to kill him and drink his blood before it got contaminated by the illness, and they figured Parker was so far gone he wouldn't be able to recover anyways. So the novel had a lot of eerie similarities to a real life event that happened like, forty six years later" Adrian was still listening intently, smiling almost triumphantly. He'd gotten Rose to open up and talk about something extensively, even getting her to go on a rant about it. Perfect.

Rose blushed a little when she realised how much she had spoken about the book and she went back to typing quickly, adding a third and fourth slide to accommodate all the book's information.

"That book sounds really interesting.. I'll have to read it sometime. I'd love if you lent it to me" Adrian grinned a little, leaning a little towards Rose. Rose rolled her eyes but she nodded "Yeah, sure. Just give it back when you're done. I'll get it for you when you leave."

Almost two hours later, the two had managed to finish the slideshow. Now all that was left was to rehearse and go over it all tomorrow at lunch. Rose stood up, stretching as Adrian closed his binder.

"This was fun. And I'm glad we got everything done tonight" Adrian said, actually being sincere. He had fun just talking with Rose as they worked. Sure, he still slipped in a few pick up lines and flirty tones every so often (once resulting in a large bruise on his shoulder) but he didn't even feel like he was trying to woo her or anything. Ro Adrian's surprise, Rose smiled back "Yeah. It wasn't as bad as I expected. You're full of surprises, Ivashkov" She chuckled

"I guess I am, Little Flower" He chuckled as well, standing up. The two walked back upstairs and towards the door, until Rose stopped "Oh yeah, I gotta grab the book. It's in the living room" She led him in, all heads turning to face them

"Well, I don't see any bruises so I guess that means you two managed to get along?" Mia grinned. Rose laughed a little "Oh no, there's bruises. He's got one roughly the size of my fist on his shoulder."

She walked across the room, almost tripping when Mason grabbed her ankle.

"Fuck you, Ashford!" Rose lightly kicked his knee, and he laughed "I'm sure you'd love that, Rose" He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. Rose leaned over the bookshelf, finding the biggest book she could and chucking it at Mason. He yelped, ducking just in time for the book to miss him. Meanwhile, Lissa and Andre looked at eachother, before bursting into laughter.

"Hm, Rose throwing a heavy book at someone's head! Where have we seen _that_ move before?" Andre smirked, and Rose flipped him off

"The teacher was an ass." She shrugged, grabbing the book for Adrian.

"Why doesn't it surprise me that you'd throw a book at a teacher, Hathaway?" Adrian smirked, chuckling softly

"Shut it, or you're next" She rolled her eyes, handing him the book "Alright, seeya"

"Wait wait, I mean, we're all hanging out.. Wouldn't it be rude not to invite Adrian to stay?" Lissa grinned devilishly, Mia looking at her with a smirk.

"Yeah, c'mon! You can ahng out with us for a while. Show you how cool decent people are" Mia snickered

Adrian looked at Rose "I mean, if Little Flower's okay with it.. Sure, why not?" He shrugged, smiling when Rose gave an exasperated nod.

"Anyways, I'm making hot chocolate, who wants some?" Rose asked. Around the room came calls of 'Me!' and she nodded, smiling a little. She turned, walking into the kitchen and turning on the kettle as she pulled down a box of flavoured hot chocolate mixes.

In the living room, Andre and Mason were regarding Adrian with a little suspicion and dislike. Adrian, who was examining his nails, didn't seem to mind. Mason tore his gaze away from the football player, beginning to stand up and follow after Rose.

"Hey Adrian! Why don't you go help Rose with the hot chocolate? I doubt she wants to take two trips, and we don't want another.. incident" She looked at Eddie pointedly. He whistled, looking away.

"Yeah sure" Adrian shrugged, smirking a little as Mason sat back down.

 _Yeah, that's right. Don't_ _get in my way, Rose's mine._

Adrian easily could see the difference between how Rose treated him, and how she treated her friends. He was determined to have Rose calling him a friend by the end of the week. Everyone else in the group seemed pretty decent too, he wouldn't mind hanging out with them. Well, except the ginger, but it seemed like the dislike was mutual. Adrian locked eyes with the boy, a small smirk on his lips before he turned and walked after Rose.

Rose was humming to herself, swaying a little to the beat of a song that'd be stuck in her head for almost a week as she waited for the kettle to boil. Adrian tutted a little, shaking his head in mock shame

"Are you actually making it with water?" He sighed, a small smile on his face "I'm disappointed in you, Little flower"

Rose turned, rolling her eyes "Oh whatever, it tastes perfectly alright this way" She chuckled a little, leaning against the counter and facing Adrian.

"Spoken like a true amateur. Let me show you how it's done." He flipped off the kettle, grabbing a pot and pouring some milk into it. Rose laughed a little "Y'know, we have a microwave."

She didn't consider Adrian a friend, but she considered him.. an acquaintance, is the word she'd use. Aside from the player thing, Adrian wasn't a bad person. Sure, he flirted almost non-stop and called her dumb nick names, but he also could hold an actual conversation, which she'd learned when they'd been working on the project. In her mind, he'd bumped himself up to a spot of 'almost like'. Honestly, if he acted the way he'd been acting tonight more often, with less obvious flirting and more just joking around and being actually friendly, Rose wouldn't mind spending some more time with him.

"Shh.. Learn from the master" Adrian grinned at her, as he turned on the stove. Rose rolled her eyes, not even trying to hold back her smile as she rummaged through the fridge. She pulled out two opened cans of whipped cream, one unopened.

"Marshmallows, whipped cream, or both?" She asked Adrian, who shrugged "Surprise me"

Rose nodded, opening the cupboards. She huffed, turning and glaring at the door "Fuck you Andre!" She called, and she just heard cackling from the living room.

"What'd he do?" Adrian asked, looking over with an amused grin.

"He put all the junk food on the top shelf, because he knows I can't reach unless I go on the counter. Asshole.." She muttered, swinging a leg up and hopping on the counter. She held onto the fridge for support. grabbing a bag of mini marshmallows, and a plastic bag full of sweets that she'd bought the other day. She hopped down off the counter, almost losing her balance as she landed. She set the candy on the counter and closed the cupboard.

"Impressive. I expected you to hit your head off the island or something on your way down" Adrian teased and she lightly punched him in the arm. "Fuck off. Is the hot chocolate done yet?"

"Yup" Adrian nodded, finishing stirring the last cup. She went down the line of cups, somehow managing to remember how everyone liked theirs.

"Help me carry these back" She managed to grab four of the cups, walking out with the bag of candy in her mouth. Adrian followed after, carrying four cups as well. They set them down on the coffee table, everyone grabbing theirs. Rose handed him a cup with whipped cream and marshmallows, and he smiled "Thanks."

"Alright, what're we watching now?" Rose asked

"Anyone have any ideas..?" Christian asked

"Hush!" Rose and Adrian demanded at the same time. The two looked at each other, smiling a little "Really? I thought I was the only one who loved that movie!" They were still talking in unison.

"Okay stop, it's even weirder when you guys do it than when Rose and Lissa do it" Christian laughed, and Rose rolled her eyes

"Okay fine, Hush it is" Andre shrugged, putting on the movie. Mason was sitting beside Eddie and Andre, the three talking quietly as the movie's opening began. Lissa had her head in Christian's lap, the latter playing with her hair as she talked to Mia. Rose sat down back on her sleeping bag, and Adrian sat beside her

"Scoot over, the ground's uncomfortable" Adrian complained, and Rose rolled her eyes but moved over a little anyways, giving Adrian enough room to sit on the sleeping bag with her. The two of them were completely engrossed in the movie, finishing their hot chocolate quickly and moving on to devour the candies. Rose had brought the whipped cream out and just put some on her hot chocolate spoon, eating it. Adrian laughed, shaking his head "Gimme some."

Rose squirted some on the spoon, smirking as she flicked it at Adrian "There" It landed on his nose and he laughed, attempting to lick it off. He just wiped it off with his finger, smearing it on Rose's cheek.

After their little whipped cream fight, the two were back to paying complete attention to the movie. Once it was over, Rose immediately put on another horror movie before anyone could complain. By now, Lissa and Mia had both fallen asleep, and Christian was almost a zombie. Mason and Andre were still wide awake, and Eddie was at the halfway mark.

Three hours later, Everyone was sprawled out on the floor, either asleep or almost asleep. Rose was completely passed out, her head on Adrian's chest and her soft snores echoing slightly throughout the room. Eddie and Andre were slumped against each other, and Christian, Mia and Lissa had passed out long ago. Mason was the most awake, glaring at an almost completely asleep Adrian with hatred. It looked like he was about to murder the brown haired boy as his arms came to rest around Rose's shoulders and waist, holding her to his chest. In their defence, it was freezing and they'd fallen asleep without the blankets actually on them. They were the closest to each other, and that was just their natural instinct to stay warm.

Mason definitely didn't see it that way.

 **Whoo! Over 4500 words! I'm happy with this chapter. I know it might be moving a little quick but the friendship stage will last a _long_ time. In the book, the two became friends pretty quickly, so I also did want to stick with that aspect of their relationship. The whole 'once they got to know each other, they instantly clicked' kind of thing that made Adrian and Rose such good friends.**

 **btw I've typed the name Adrian so much in the last few hours that it's literally stopped looking like a word, lmao**

 **Anyways, please review with any comments you have on the chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed!**

 **~Ayla**


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